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Do arrows always bounce off of soldiers? My archery is at 7 and I never do damage to them. If I make steel crossbow bolts will that get through? Are there any other heavily armored Zs, that headshots from arrows won’t go through. I can headshot brutes.
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I am looking at melee weapons and there don’t seem to be any really good ones. Jackhammer seems strong, but really heavy and noisy. Plus I think its needs battery life. Can this take out a solder? Any melee weapons for taking down soldiers?
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What are good weapons for taking out turrets? I found an m72 Law on a corpse and took out one to get into a science lab. If you an craft more rockets for it, I don’t have the skills yet. Do I need high powered rifles? There seems to be more Turretes in DDA than in the old version. Science labs have alot and the one Military Bunker near me has a whole bunch.
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Anyone now the max its worth it to get Cooking, Survival (seems to work flawlessly butchering corpses at 3), Mechanics, and electronics. I know construction doesn’t have any purpose above 3. I want to turn off XP use when i hit the max and just turn it back on to keep it from degrading.
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Have you guys found a way to keep your morale above 50 when fighting? Ok. I can use mp3. I have to turn it on and off so I don’t waste the batteries. 50 morale doesn’t really help all that much. I can go out with a full tank of 800 xp and its gone pretty quick when fighting Zs. Using marajuana or drinking doesn’t sound wise while fighting. Is there any practical way to keep EXP in the tank when fighting lots of Zs?
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Not sure, I think I’ve damaged a soldier before, but don’t quote me on this. I’m not sure about cop Zs, but you’ll also face robots, and those a pretty armored.
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Look in a mansion, morgenstern are great. I one-shot any soldier, or anything with it (but then, I’ve got hydraulic muscle for +20 Strg). Anyway, if you get them stuck in a window, you should be fine even with a crowbar. Nailbord and nailbat are pretty good too.
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Any firearm that shoot more than 9mm or .22 is good. I suggest sneaking in in the dark, so they can’t shoot at you until you’re really close. You usually get a couple shots before they react, and at this range, it’s enough to off them. Also, this way you can take them on one by one. M72 are one-use only and cannot be reloaded.
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Depend what you want to do. Cooking let you craft purifier at level 9, mechanic of 12 let you install more than one engine on vehicles, electronic let your craft turret at 7 en teleporter at 8.
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XP is supposed to replenish slowly. If you’re fighting Z and don’t want it to deplete itself, just turn off progression on combat skills. Also, imbibing slightly is great, as “Tispy” give you +1 strength. Stuff like cocaine is good for fighting too.
[quote=“youtoo, post:1, topic:1024”]1. Do arrows always bounce off of soldiers? My archery is at 7 and I never do damage to them. If I make steel crossbow bolts will that get through? Are there any other heavily armored Zs, that headshots from arrows won’t go through. I can headshot brutes.
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I am looking at melee weapons and there don’t seem to be any really good ones. Jackhammer seems strong, but really heavy and noisy. Plus I think its needs battery life. Can this take out a solder? Any melee weapons for taking down soldiers?
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What are good weapons for taking out turrets? I found an m72 Law on a corpse and took out one to get into a science lab. If you an craft more rockets for it, I don’t have the skills yet. Do I need high powered rifles? There seems to be more Turretes in DDA than in the old version. Science labs have alot and the one Military Bunker near me has a whole bunch.
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Anyone now the max its worth it to get Cooking, Survival (seems to work flawlessly butchering corpses at 3), Mechanics, and electronics. I know construction doesn’t have any purpose above 3. I want to turn off XP use when i hit the max and just turn it back on to keep it from degrading.
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Have you guys found a way to keep your morale above 50 when fighting? Ok. I can use mp3. I have to turn it on and off so I don’t waste the batteries. 50 morale doesn’t really help all that much. I can go out with a full tank of 800 xp and its gone pretty quick when fighting Zs. Using marajuana or drinking doesn’t sound wise while fighting. Is there any practical way to keep EXP in the tank when fighting lots of Zs?[/quote]
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Headshots can still one hit them :3 also steel crossbow bolts have armor penetration
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Katana and Rapier are pretty powerful. Get cutting to one, then read “Speznaz’s knife techniques” (or so) and you will be a fury in melee.
3 EMP grenades work best but are pretty rare, weapons with high armor penetration should work well, I guess. And like Sheb already said: approach at night!
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Depend what you want to do. Cooking let you craft purifier at level 9, mechanic of 12 let you install more than one engine on vehicles, electronic let your craft turret at 7 en teleporter at 8
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Retreat as soon as your XP-pool is empty and start to read! Reading does not require XP and you raise skills while replenishing XP.
Ranged damage has a lot to do with armour and armour piercing and damage, unlike melee skills increasing firearm skills just increases accuracy I believe while melee skills increase accuracy and damage so with high enough melee skill you can punch a hulk to death but arrows will rarely do damage to zombie soldiers regardless of how high your archery skill is (unless its really so high that you always get headshots)
Steel crossbow bolts will damage most enemies but vs robots guns with high damage and/or armour piercing work much better. If you don’t have night vision you can chuck a molotov at or near a turret then from the light it gives you can shoot it safely from range.
how do i get a katana or rapier?
you kill a samurai or a rapper 
Medieval melee weapons are often found in mansions. Check out the pillars near the entrance.
i’ve also been told that the famed katana occasionally turns up in pawn shops. i have killed many a copbot in my fruitless search…
Wood arrows and bolts have an armor piercing rating of 1. Carbon fiber ones have an AP of 2, while steel bolts have 3.
Zombie soldiers have an bash protection of 8, and a cut protection of 16. Arrows and bolts do cut damage as far as I know.
Brutes, hulks, most other fleshy things aren’t that armored. You can’t even headshot a zombie soldier’s head due to how armored they are.
2. I am looking at melee weapons and there don't seem to be any really good ones. Jackhammer seems strong, but really heavy and noisy. Plus I think its needs battery life. Can this take out a solder? Any melee weapons for taking down soldiers?
The awlpike is the supreme melee king. It’s not craftable though. The mace and warhammer are also quite good due to their bash damage, and generally high damage output. Other than that, try to find a bat. Those are supernaturally good as well in the early game.
3. What are good weapons for taking out turrets? I found an m72 Law on a corpse and took out one to get into a science lab. If you an craft more rockets for it, I don't have the skills yet. Do I need high powered rifles? There seems to be more Turretes in DDA than in the old version. Science labs have alot and the one Military Bunker near me has a whole bunch.
Save your rockets for something else, like netherworld things, or a crowd of zombies, or static obstacles like spires. All you need is a high calibre bullet. With high AP. There are some pistols that can shoot some very powerful bullets, and don’t take up much room, making them very good sidearms for armored opponents.
It’s best if you come at night. If you have night vision, you can see one more tile than the turrets can, and at 2 tiles away, you are at leisure to blast away at them.
4. Anyone now the max its worth it to get Cooking, Survival (seems to work flawlessly butchering corpses at 3), Mechanics, and electronics. I know construction doesn't have any purpose above 3. I want to turn off XP use when i hit the max and just turn it back on to keep it from degrading.
You don’t need that high of a skill in cooking, survival is dependent on how much you want to eke out a living in the woods. The more survival you have, the more sinew you get from a corpse, which is quite vital for tailor and keeping up your clothing items.
Mechanics is worth it for the flamethrower recipe. Electronics is important if you want to install cybernetics.
If you wish to game the skill degrading mechanic, there is an option to turn it off in the game.
5. Have you guys found a way to keep your morale above 50 when fighting? Ok. I can use mp3. I have to turn it on and off so I don't waste the batteries. 50 morale doesn't really help all that much. I can go out with a full tank of 800 xp and its gone pretty quick when fighting Zs. Using marajuana or drinking doesn't sound wise while fighting. Is there any practical way to keep EXP in the tank when fighting lots of Zs?
Not really. High morale only deals with how fast your morale regenerates. Having it in battle really makes no difference if you are able to spend it fast enough that the regeneration doesn’t goes past 800 and is wasted. Might as well read a book or something in the interim while high and drunk.
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With 10-11 ST, Cutting weapons all tend to work OK. Combat knife is pretty good against Zs; the machete is a decent upgrade when the bugs/hulks show and anything above that is gravy. (Rapier is top/line for me, but I’ve never found a katana.)
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Night Vision and as many Rocks as you can manage. Make sure to take off any arm-guards you may be wearing and start throwing rocks at the turret. Takes about 20 or so if you haven’t got any points in Throwing, but it’ll get more effective as you level up.
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Cooking around 9 let you make Mutagen & Purifier fairly reliably back in the day. You’re better off disabling skill rust as even the devs do so.
[quote=“youtoo, post:1, topic:1024”]1. Do arrows always bounce off of soldiers? My archery is at 7 and I never do damage to them. If I make steel crossbow bolts will that get through? Are there any other heavily armored Zs, that headshots from arrows won’t go through. I can headshot brutes.
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I am looking at melee weapons and there don’t seem to be any really good ones. Jackhammer seems strong, but really heavy and noisy. Plus I think its needs battery life. Can this take out a solder? Any melee weapons for taking down soldiers?
-
What are good weapons for taking out turrets? I found an m72 Law on a corpse and took out one to get into a science lab. If you an craft more rockets for it, I don’t have the skills yet. Do I need high powered rifles? There seems to be more Turretes in DDA than in the old version. Science labs have alot and the one Military Bunker near me has a whole bunch.
-
Anyone now the max its worth it to get Cooking, Survival (seems to work flawlessly butchering corpses at 3), Mechanics, and electronics. I know construction doesn’t have any purpose above 3. I want to turn off XP use when i hit the max and just turn it back on to keep it from degrading.
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Have you guys found a way to keep your morale above 50 when fighting? Ok. I can use mp3. I have to turn it on and off so I don’t waste the batteries. 50 morale doesn’t really help all that much. I can go out with a full tank of 800 xp and its gone pretty quick when fighting Zs. Using marajuana or drinking doesn’t sound wise while fighting. Is there any practical way to keep EXP in the tank when fighting lots of Zs?[/quote]
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General tip when playing an archer is play with fire. Lots and lots of fire. No matter what their armor, fire causes much “FUN” :).
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I generally go around with a pipe for most of the game, but I’ve found several katanas on the corpses of drug dealers. Might want to search among their weed if you really want to behead a brute.
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A truck. Failing that, pipe bombs.
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Cooking isn’t particularly useful. You can survive well enough by spitroasting squirrel meat. However, mechanics is a must have if you plan on making a death wagon, and electronics is handy when it comes to gizmos (like the noise emitter) that make it easier to survive and loot. Survival is more of a secondary skill type of thing. You only really need 1 and you can get most important things (like a bow). I’d also recommend at least a point in trap making for the nail board traps. They come in handy if your base gets raided by fungaloids or those damned triffids.
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Take cocaine. It adds a massive speed and stat boost that can basically allow you to beat a brute down with a plastic bottle (actually did it).
It’s hit or miss, I usually find rapiers in pawn shops. The only time I’ve ever seen a katana was on a corpse in the middle of nowhere. Which is fine, since katanas are pretty powerful, so if they were so easy to get ahold of it would make most other cutting melee weapons redundant.
Strange, I’ve almost never had problems with Zombie Soldiers. In my latest game, I took down a couple dozen without any trouble. I started off by using a crossbow (with steel bolts; I guess the wood ones might have issues?), and upgraded to a revolver when I felt I had enough ammo. I never found myself unable to penetrate their armour, but did note that they consistently took several hits to take down.
RE: Melee weapons, I really dislike all cutting weapons. They’re powerful, but they get stuck in enemies all the time, and even when you yank them free, you still loose 3 turns. Not a problem when fighting a single enemy, as you can 1-shot them, but when fighting a swarm, it significantly reduce your killing power. My trusty morgenstern can off on zombie per turn, every turn.
Is it really recommended to turn off skill rust? I can see the point, as I burn through xp and only get to like, level 7:00 forever at best with throwing which is my primary attack and highest skill.
The general setting that I use for my skill rust is ‘1’. That way you still have skill rust, but it won’t actually take you down a level. Which makes sense. I mean if you were learning how to do something new and then you don’t touch it for a month or so you are obviously going to forget what you are currently learning, but the overall skills should stay.
Pretty sure hulks have some armor. Last I checked, (wood) arrows and shotgun shells bounce right off. Lost a good character that way. Though it was birdshot I was using that particular time.
Moral of the story: Keep ALL guns loaded at all times, unless you think you can outrun a hulk.
I always turn it off. Forgetting stuff over the summer is one thing. Forgetting stuff you learned yesterday or a few days ago is another.
I tried playing without skill rust capped at levels (setting 1): with constant attention and metagaming/micromanaging your skill use, you can juuust barely get to skill 10 in one skill. Ballfairy could never have accomplished xyr Quest had xe permitted skill rust.
Skill rust is grossly overpowered. I turned it off and haven’t looked back.
[edited to fix misstatement-KA101]
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Skeletons also cause this issue. Wolf spiders too, and both are common. Just get a Glock with +P+ rounds and you’ll be fine. The firearm skill you’ve accumulated will help carry you (and let you prepare ammo). I would guess that anything with 8+ cutting armor will bounce wooden arrows (in which case, add hulks and scarred zeds), although I think I’ve shot giant centipedes before, so…
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Pipe bombs are a cheap solution - a pipe, 6" string, some gasoline. I’d save the EMP’s for scarier stuff as they’re pricey. Otherwise, yeah, put some spikes on your car and GTA them.
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Cooking makes purifier at level 9 I believe, and drugs by 6. Recall that both electronics and mechanics contribute to bionic installation success (likely up to a soft cap). Elsewise, 8 electronics for a teleporter and 12 mechanics for extra engines in your car. I think survival can craft everything at 3, but butcher success probably feels the influence of 4 or more.